Dark Sugars Ice Creams — Restaurant in London

Yesterday 3 friends and I went to your Greenwich branch (Dark Sugars Ice Creams, 21 Nelson Road) and we had the most appalling customer service ever.

After being in the queue for over 20 min, we got to that part of the shop where the sweets are displayed on the wall. One of my friends, who owns 5 ice cream shops outside London, started telling us about those bottles of sweets explaining how they work, costs etc; whilst he was explaining, he put a finger in one of the bottles which was actually empty; the guy who was behind the counter serving shouted at him saying: 'can you not see you'll make a mess?'. It was absolutely embarrassing, especially because it was very busy.

My friend simply said: 'ok, sorry'

However, your male member of staff was not happy with a simple 'ok, sorry', he kept going on and on raising his voice. So I intervened and said: 'Excuse me, there's no need to talk to us like that. He said sorry, and we do know that if we press the button, it will make a mess. He was not pressing it, and that bottle he touched is empty anyway'.

But your member of staff did not stop there, he continued, he would just not stop. He said there was a big sign there saying you should ask a member of staff if you wanted any sweets, and asked us if we could not read it??? We were shocked.

So I said: 'What? Are you not gonna stop? What else do you want us to say? My friend apologised when it was not even necessary, I explained that he was not pressing the button and that specific bottle is empty and you still won't stop lecturing us?

He responded: 'And if you don't cut the attitude, I'm not gonna serve you guys when it get to you'.

I said: 'That won't be necessary, we don't want to be served by you anyway', and we left.

We'll never visit any of your shops again. We'll tell as many friends as we can to not visit them either. We were so shocked, embarrassed, I can't even express it in words. It felt like your male member of staff was really angry at something else, and he was just waiting for the first opportunity to vent all his anger at someone. We are all responsible professionals over 40y. There was no need to treat us like that.

We waited 20 min in the queue to be lectured and shouted at, and now I'm here having to waste my precious time again to write this feedback.

His attitude completely ruined...

I walked in the store with my baby and after waiting for a while for the couple before me to sample 2-3 flavours each, I then requested to sample 2 flavours. I was told by the member of staff who served the couple that he only gave them many samples because of his discretion as a manager, but everyone else is allowed to have 1 sample. That was very strange. But what was more shocking is what followed: I had just given my order to his colleague when that same man (supposedly the manager) asked me if I was going to ‘exit the store’ which was so rude! After being spoken to this way, I did indeed cancel my order and walked away! His excuse was that he wanted to clear the way from my pram, however there was enough space for other customers who could easily pass through - it was Sunday evening and not very busy. Nevertheless he could have instead politely asked me to move further down instead asking if I was going to “exit the store”! The customers that he gave many samples to and who were taking very long to place their order also had a pram, but this member of staff/manager was polite with them. Perhaps also ‘exercising his discretion’ to be polite with some and rude with others! What a horrible way to treat a customer, let alone a woman with a small child! This is absolutely appalling!

Update: The team of Dark Sugars reached out to me regarding the negative experience and they were so lovely! A lady called Nelly emailed me the sweetest, genuine email. I was offered a sincere apology for the unacceptable behaviour of this ‘manager’ and was ensured this issue will be addressed internally. I was invited to visit the store again and I upon this visit, I had a very positive experience when one of the managers Roxana looked after me in such a nice way that I will now happily return as a customer...

Ice creams are nice and good quality, but sadly can't give more than 3 stars for overall experience. Atmosphere is a disaster: not a clear way to see the queue upon entering shop if you have a more than 5-6 people. It was confusing where the tills are if you can't see them while other people standing in the queue to get their ice creams. While all the chocolate selection is displayed on your left side and it feels you almost touching those chocolates while trying to pass people. So it feels so not hygienical to have all those chocolate displayed like that while you have ice cream queue next to it... Also they have two fridges with different flavours of ice-creams, but you can only choose one of the side to get all your flavours . This is ridiculous and seeing this first time in my life. So one side has all the chocolate flavours while other side has all the fruity and creamy options , and obviously if you are getting three scoops you want to mix and try different flavours from both sides but no, you cannot do that in this shop. Honestly, it felt like you need to have a PHD degree to place an ice-cream order in this place when it should be straig forward process like in any other normal ice cream shop. Service also very disappointing because it feels that all stuff is just "doesn't care" about anything there. Usually ice cream places have happy people to serve ice creams and see people smiles - in this shop it felt like "leave me alone" attitude... Conclusion: Good ice cream if you don't mind confusing service and not...